Top 6 Growth Marketing Strategies from an Industry Expert

As the Head of Growth Marketing at Leadfeeder for the past 2+ years, I've spent a lot of time figuring out what works and what doesn't. 

Here's what doesn't work: 

• Stale, one-size-fits-all growth marketing “strategies”. 

• The same things everyone else is doing. 

• The same thing you've been doing for the last 5 years. 

• Standard lead gen strategies. 

• The newest buzzword (that's just the same strategy with new wrapping.)

Here's the thing—what works for Slack or Microsoft, or even your competitors might not work for you. That's because every business and audience is different. The things that make your company stand out are exactly what needs to be leveraged for long-term growth marketing. 

Today, I'll share six growth marketing strategy examples we've used at Leadfeeder to increase sign-ups and drive revenue. A few of these might work for you—and a few might not. You won't know unless you test. 

However, since each strategy is based on your own data, there's a good chance they'll be effective. 

Note: Leadfeeder provides the data you need to create more effective growth marketing strategies. Sign up for a free trial and see what your leads are up to. 

1. Use B2B website personalization 

Back in the day, personalization was about adding a name tag to your email list—and not much else. Times have changed, and website personalization has gotten a lot cooler. Neato!

Today, website personalization is about building a custom experience for website visitors using onsite behavior or even the company they work for. Showing different messages/imagery on your website makes your offers more relevant. 

It's also more effective. Research from Epsilon found 80 percent of customers are more likely to make a purchase when offered a personalized experience. 

The Leadfeeder team tracks whether users interact more with our marketing or sales content and displays pop-ups and lead magnets they're likely interested in. For example, a lead that interacts with sales content might see this lead magnet: 

Someone interacting with marketing content might be offered our ABM guide or another marketing-related resource. 

Here's another example of personalization from Citrix. Their homepage adjusts its landing copy by industry. Someone in data sees this: 

While someone in health care sees different copy and images: 

2. Pre-qualify your demos 

More isn't always better, especially when it comes to building effective growth marketing strategies. 

Allowing anyone to book a demo with your sales team directly can lead to a flood of low-quality leads that waste your sales team's time. 

Instead of making it easier for leads to book a demo, work to qualify users before letting them book. When a user higher in the funnel visits your site, offer them a lead magnet, a webinar, or another resource that helps nurture them. 

Alternatively, create a longer lead form for lower-quality leads. 

But wait, we all know more form fields = fewer conversions. When you're trying to qualify leads, though, fewer leads is a good thing—because it means better leads. 

Here's how it might look in practice: 

Visitor 1: 

• First-time visitor.  

• Reads two blog posts. 

• Works in health care (which isn't your target audience) 

Demo sign-up page asks for: name, email, phone number, industry, company size, annual revenue, and time to meet. 

Visitor 2: 

• Third visit in a week; 10th in the last two months. 

• Visited 8 pages, including the pricing page. 

• 3 people from the same company also visited your site. 

• Works in data (your target audience.) 

Demo to sign up page asks for: name and email, then takes them to a calendar to book. 

Prequalifying demo sign-ups this way gives sales more time to focus on higher-quality leads. 

(P.S.: Leadfeeder can give you access to exactly this type of data. Learn more here.)  

3. Ungate content and still capture leads 

I have a slightly unpopular opinion (at least based on the number of lead magnets I see 👀.)  

Customers don’t like gated content. They're tired of seeing a carrot dangled and they're tired of overly salesy emails. 

When should you un-gate content? Our answer is “now”.

The problem is, marketers don't want to lose leads by un-gating content. I get it. I also get a little thrill every time another lead joins our email list or fills out a form. But all those leads might not be as effective as you think. 

Luckily, there's an alternative B2B growth marketing strategy. Un-gate that super valuable content, then use Leadfeeder Web Visitors to capture the companies downloading your content—without asking for an email address. 

Here's how: 

1. Install the Leadfeeder tracker. It takes less than a minute, and we'll start tracking leads right away. 

2. Go to your Leadfeeder dashboard and create a filter based on Behavior > file download. Add the file you want to track.

3. Save your feed, then head over to the email tab and sign up for either daily or weekly emails. You'll get a list of new leads delivered to your email box. 

Voila. No more gated content, and you still get access to those sweet, sweet leads. 🍭

4. Personalized retargeting ads by industry 

You've heard about the death of third-party cookies. If you've been wondering how that might impact retargeting efforts, I've got great news. 

While third-party data might be ending, you'll still have access to first-party data—that is, data you collect on your website. This kind of data is perfect for growth marketing activities.

You can use that data to increase the performance of retargeting ads by customizing them to the industry of the user viewing them. 

For example, someone in cyber security might see copy and images related to security, someone in education could see children in a classroom; you get the idea. 

This guide walks you through connecting GA. You'll also need to connect Google Ads.  

5. Follow the revenue, not the leads with your paid ads 

In my favorite show The Wire, Lester says, “You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don't know where the 🤬 it's gonna take you.” 

That same sentiment applies to paid ads. 

When analyzing paid ads, don't just look at the leads you generated, start at the other end—the revenue. Then, work your way back to figure out which paid ads are driving the most money  (campaigns, ad groups, ad text, keywords, etc.) 

Once you know what growth marketing strategies drive the most revenue, you can focus on those actions.  

These strategies are far more likely to produce leads that convert into customers, rather than just increasing the number of leads you generate and hoping it turns into revenue.

Remember quality > quantity. Getting 1K leads is awesome, but I'd much rather get 100 leads with a higher conversion rate. 

6. Let leads take the driver's seat 

Today's users want solutions, and they want them now. 

COVID shifted even more of our world online, which means users expect to be able to access what they want on their own timeline. 

Make it easy for leads to take control of their buyer journey by incorporating strategies and tools that make it easy for contacts to engage with your sales team on their own terms.

That means leveraging strategies like:  

• Training videos they can watch 24/7. Check out the “Leadfeeder Academy” for an example.

• Chatbots to provide links to resources and answer basic questions.  

• Automated appointment scheduling (with long forms for unqualified users, like we discussed above.) 

• Recorded demos that provide a basic overview. 

• Video prospecting to build a personal connection in an asynchronous world. 

More than 70 percent of B2B buyers fully understand what they need before ever speaking to a sales rep. Letting users control the sales process means they're more likely to select your solution. 

Growth marketing strategies need data 

Growth marketing is about building long-term growth using proven strategies. But, the marketing growth strategies that work for one company/target audience/industry might not work for someone else. 

Effective growth marketing strategies are all about the data—your data about your customers and your industry. With Leadfeeder, you can track what efforts drive results so you can double down on the most effective campaigns. 

Note: Ready to see what your leads are doing on your site? Sign up for a free 14-day trial of Leadfeeder.